Two graves were discovered at the Russian site of Sungir', one containing the burial of an elderly man, the other being a double grave in which two children, aged around 8 and 13, were laid head to head.
All three were covered with tiny mammoth ivory beads, around 10,000 in all. From the way that these beads lie in the graves, it is apparent that they had originally been sewn in bands onto clothing.
The man had beads across his forehead, chest and legs: from this it is surmised that he was wearing a shirt with a hood, or separate cap and jacket, and trousers. Other objects were buried with them, including ivory bracelets and pendants, necklaces of shells and teeth, and stone tools. Red ochre had been scattered on the graves: this probably had some ritual significance.
A few other such elaborate burials are known, for instance from Arene Candide in Italy.
